Exxon leapfrogs Apple as world's biggest public firm

Exxon has surpassed Apple as the biggest public company in the world after the iPhone maker saw its stock price declining.

Shares in the iPhone and iPad maker stood at more than 700 dollars as recently as September, but had fallen two percent to 440.75 dollars on Friday, giving it a market capitalisation of 414.4 billion dollars.

The US technology giant therefore slipped behind Exxon Mobil, the oil and gas business, which it overtook in August last year, the Telegraph reports.